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The Drill: Gunderson, H-LP Wolves make winning contagious

Harris-Lake Park football player Trevor Gunderson takes a brief rest from a recent football practice. (Tim Middagh/The Globe)

LAKE PARK, Iowa -- The Harris-Lake Park Wolves weren’t at all surprised by the outstanding football season they enjoyed in 2016, but no doubt they might have been pinching themselves with every impressive victory.

It’s a small rural school district tucked away in the far northwest corner of Iowa, and rendezvous with greatness don’t come around often here. And yet, the Wolves blew away most of their football opponents last year en route to second place in the Iowa state 8-Man tournament.

One key player on that team, Trevor Gunderson, returns this year to help keep H-LP at the top. The son of head coach Lane Gunderson, Trevor accounted for 2,000 yards from scrimmage rushing and pass-catching last season, and now in his senior year he’s hoping to help the Wolves pick up where they left off.

In H-LP’s first win of the 2017 season, Trevor sustained an injury, and he’s expected to miss three to five weeks before taking the field again. But the Wolves, 2-0, seem to be doing just fine while he recuperates -- last Friday they defeated River Valley 44-0 in their first game without Gunderson playing a part.

You know they’re counting the days till his return in cleats, however.

The Globe caught up to the prolific high school running back recently for The Drill. Go to www.dglobe.com to check out the video. Here are some interview highlights:

QUESTION: What kind of runner are you? A slasher? A pounder? A juker? A speedster? What do you do best to roll up the yards?

ANSWER: “I wouldn’t really characterize myself as a certain kind of runner. I just try to get as many yards as I can, if it’s five or a touchdown. As many as you can get to try to get a first down and try to get a touchdown eventually.”

Q: What is the goal this year for Harris-Lake Park? How good can the team be?

A: “I think the goal for us this year is just to have fun. Because I know we’re good enough to play at the highest level of 8-Man.”

Q: What is it like to play for your dad?

A: “My dad, Lane Gunderson, is the coach and I enjoy playing for him. And I try really hard to make sure he doesn’t get on me. He could if he wanted to. … I just think he’s a good guy and a good coach.”

Doug Wolter is the Daily Globe sports editor. He served as sports reporter, then sports editor, news editor and finally managing editor at the Daily Globe for 22 years before leaving for seven years to work as night news editor at the Mankato Free Press in Mankato. Doug now lives in Worthington with his wife, Sandy. They have three children and seven grandchildren. Doug, retired after a lengthy career in fast-pitch softball, enjoys reading, strumming his acoustic guitar and hanging around his grandchildren. He also writes books on fiction. Two of his stories, "The Genuine One" and "The Old Man in Section 129" have been distributed through a national publisher.